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A qualitative Study on beedi production and consumption

In Sri Lanka

June 2014

Research and Evaluation Programme

Alcohol and Drug Information Centre

1

Acknowledgement 3

Summary 4

Chapter One

Background and Objectives 6

1.1 Introduction 6

1.2 Background 6

1.3 Objectives 7

1.4 Study approach 7

Chapter Two

Literature Review 9

Chapter Three

Methodology 11

2.1 Introduction 11

2.2 Setting 11

2.3 Data collection tool 13

2.4 Sample 13

2.5 Data analysis 13

2.6 Ethical consent 14

2.7 Limitation 14

2.8 Summary 14

Chapter Four

Study Findings; Beedi Smoking 16

4.1 Introduction 16

4.2 Consumption 16

4.2.1 Characteristic information 16

4.2.3 Pattern of beedi consumption 17

4.3 Reasons for beedi consumption 18

4.4 Attitudes towards smoking beedi 19

4.5 Expenditure on beedi smoking 19

4.6 Summary 20

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Chapter Five

Study Findings; Beedi Production and Sales 21

5.1 Production 21

5.2 Sales 24

5.3 Type of beedi and prices 25

5.4 Summary 26

Chapter Six

Conclusions and Recommendations 28

References 30

3

Acknowledgement

At the beginningthe Research and Information Programme of ADIC wish to express deep

gratitude to the Deapartment of Excise and the officers for giving their cooperation in getting

valid and accurate information of beedi producers in Sri Lanka.

Moreover, special thanks go to district coordinators of ADIC in Rathnapura, Kegalle, Jaffna,

Anurathapura and Kurunegala for their valuable support in conducting interviews in order to

collect data, with beedi consumers, producers and sellers in particular districts. Research and

Information Programme of ADIC convey its gratitude to undergraduate social work students of

National Institute of Social Development for the help in data collection in Gampaha district. All

the field enumerators turned the whole process of data collection into successful one.

Finally, the sincere gratitude goes to all the ADIC staff members for their continuous support to

the study.

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Executive Summary

Summary: A Research Study on Beedi Production, Sale and Consumption is Sri Lanka

The study was conducted in seven districts, namely Kegalle, Gampaha, Rathnapura, Kurunegala,

Anuradhapura, Monaragala and Jaffna. These districts were selected as majority of the beedi

producers registered under the Department of Excise were from these districts. Anuradhapura,

and Monaragala were included in the study as producers reveal that majority of the distributions

were made to these districts. The study population included beedi producers, selling shop

owners and users.

Literature available regarding cigarettes and beedi reveal that considering smoking tobacco, 96%

accounts for cigarettes globally and in Sri Lanka, it is 97.1%. Beedi smoking is 2.6% in Sri

Lanka.

Producer Perspective

There are considerable numbers of direct and indirect parties engaged in beedi industry

whose income generation depends on beedi production. Majority of the makers are

females who make beedi at household level.

Beedi production has decreased during the past years due to the decrease in demand.

In Kegalle district, there are societies at village level to look into welfare of the grass-root

level beedi makers and regulate intermediatory dealers

Beedi producers Ceylon Tobacco Company as a threat to beedi industry.

Although there are wide range of beedi types, ‘Sudu’ beedi is the most common beedi

among producers because it is considered as superior in quality and price compared to

other types.

Selling Point Perspectives

The sale of beedi has a decreasing trend

Most sales are reported from rural areas in the districts

94% of the shops which sold beedi, sold cigarettes as well

Majority of the beedi buyers are above 45 years (60%)

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Most of the beedi users are also using cigarettes (60%) and they are buying the cheapest

cigarettes rather beedi when then have enough money

Consumer Perspective

Majority of the beedi consumers are above 50 years and they are daily users

Characteristic of the users were similar. Most of them were engaged in daily wage

occupations such as laborers, helpers

Their level of education is low

On average 14 sticks per day were used by daily users (Mini=1, Max=40)

Average expenditure on beedi is Rs.1170/- (Min.Rs.100/-to MaxRs.6000/-)

Most common reasons for usage were “support for late night jobs”, “to get rid of the

tiredness”, “to pass time”, etc which were linked to their occupations. This implies that

the users are trapped in the common myths attached to tobacco smoking.

Beedi users believe that consuming beedi is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes. They have

come to this conclusion because beedi smells than cigarettes.

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Chapter One

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

1.1 Introduction

This report presents the findings of a qualitative study on beedi production, sales and

consumption in Sri Lanka. The production of beedi base on major fifth districts which most

manufactures are been reported. The sales and consumption of beedi base on the most sales were

reported districts. Base on the manufactures information two additional districts were added for

the study.

This study will help to understand the situation of beedi production and consumption in Sri

Lanka. Also this will help to see context of different between smoking cigarettes and smoking

bidi. Policy makers, health professionals, academia or any other person who seek information

about beedi in Sri Lanka can use this study.

1.2 Background

According to (NCD, 2010); non communicable diseases (NCD) account for 90 percent of the

diseases. Further it has found that major modifiable risk factors for the NCD are tobacco use,

unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and harmful alcohol use. Thus there is an important role to do more

prevention towards NCD and specially to prevent all the modifiable risk factors. As tobacco is the number

one risk factor more attention should be given towards tobacco prevention. Tobacco use could be seen as

smoking tobacco and non smoking tobacco. According to Tobacco Atlas 4th Edition smoking tobacco

form is the most prevalent. There are different types of smoking tobacco but as well as in globe Cigarettes

is the most prevalent smoking tobacco in Sri Lanka. It accounts for 96% in the world sales (Tobacco

Atlas 4th Edition). The same figure can be seen in Sri Lanka which is 97.1% smoke cigarettes, 2.6%

smoker beedi and 0.3% smoke cigars (ADIC, 2013). According to the facts there is more action

towards cigarettes. That is why more studies have carried out on cigarettes and less on beedi.

Even though more studies have to carry out on smoking cigarettes this study is aim fill the gap of

information about bidi consumption in Sri Lanka.

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1.3 Objectives of the Study

There is a lack of studies has been carried out on beedi in Sri Lanka. So Alcohol and Drug

Information Center tried to fill the knowledge gap about the beedi consumption. The main

objective of this study is to understand the situation of beedi production and consumption in Sri

Lanka. The information about beedi production will base on the Department of Excise

commissioner Sri Lanka and manufactures.

The study also seeks following specific objectives

To investigate the beedi manufacturing in Sri Lanka

To identify the beedi sales in Sri Lanka

To study on beedi consumption in Sri Lanka

To make an comparison of beedi and cigarrets smoking in Sri Lanka

1.4 Study approach

This is a more qualitative study which has carried out for seven districts in Sri Lanka exploring

the beedi consumption. Tobacco smoking is negligible among women in Sri Lanka [smoking

prevalent among male: 29.9%, female 0.4% (WHO.2013)] thus this study is focus only about the

male population who smoke beedi. Prior to collect the primary data literature review was carried.

Though it has been identified that beedi consumption is prevailing among low socio economic

groups in Sri Lanka (WHO, 2006) there is no information where the majority beedi consumers

reported. Thus this study has used special method to track where the most beedi consumers are

prevailing.

Well trained field officers were occupied to collect the primary data from the seven districts.

They were thoroughly made aware about the objectives of the study. All the field officers were

selected who already have experiences in the field work and graduate students who follow Social

Work degree.

Questionnaires were used as a data collection tool and it was pretested in the district Colombo.

Field Officers feedback and their experience were also collected to find more qualitative

information. Field work was carried out in the month of June 2014.

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Table: 1 Sample Distribution

Districts Manufactures Sellers Consumers

Kegalle 3 6 30

Gampaha 2 5 25

Rathnapura 2 5 25

Jaffna 2 5 25

Kurunegala 2 5 25

Anuradhapura - 5 25

Monaragala - 5 25

Total 11 36 180

All the interviews were conducted in local languages. Apart from Jaffna all the other districts

were used interviews in Sinhala language. In Jaffna Tamil languages was used for the interviews.

Collected data was transcribed in English. Data was analyzed by using Statistic Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS 20) and some data will be presented by using table, graphs and charts.

Thematic analysis was used to analyze the field officers data.

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Chapter Two

LITERATURE REVIEW

Beedi have been identified as the cheapest smoking tobacco product in Sri Lanka and mainly

used by low socio-economic group (WHO, 2006). WHO (2006) further mentions that, beedi

consumption is reducing in Sri Lanka. Beedi manufacturing has been identified as a small-scale

business in East and North Central part of Sri Lanka. It have identified that consumption of beedi

is higher in east and north central part of the country as cigarettes were not freely available in

those area due to civil disturbances (WHO, 2006). However in Sri Lanka the biggest tobacco

smoking production is cigarettes and CTC (Ceylon Tobacco Company) keep their monopoly for

the cigarettes production. Since war ended North and East part of the country have not been

exposure much to cigarettes. But this has been changed during past few years. After the war

ended cigarettes has largely marketed to North and East (CTC, 2011).

According to Kariyakarawana (2013) there was no specific tax for beedi companies before 2009.

“The gazette numbered 1625/1 dated October 26, 2009 brought those orders to be put into effect

only after March 1, 2010” Kariyakarawana (2013). According to above gazette all the companies

who export and manufacturing beedi has to register under the department of excise. Further

Kariyakarawana has mentioned that there were 800 traders have register after the gazette. And

most of them have identified for beedi production from the areas of Galewela, Badulla and

Hanguranketha (Kariyakrawana, 2013). According to Kariyakarawana (2013) beedi production

has mention as increasing production thus government has given guidelines to produce beedi.

Thought Kariyakarawana (2013) said that increasing the production it is not visible of increasing

the consumption of beedi. At that time the price of beedi stick was Rs. 2.00/- and the price was to

be increased. According to the article Somarathne (2010) Excise Commissioner General

Wasantha Hapuarachchi has told that 200,000 people may depend on the income of beedi

business for their living.

CSE (2013) also mentioned that the beedi consumption still remaining among low-income

groups in the country and among the consumers most are elders (above 40years). In the report

CSE (2013) say that beedi smokers are declining and they are only smaller market for beedi.

However according to the CSE (2013) beedi and illicit imports have been identified as a one of

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threat to CTC. According (JKSB, 2008) CTC has total marketable space for 4.8 billion sticks

while beedi market is around 2.3 billion sticks. The very similar number of market space for both

sticks has given by CSE (2013). According to the ADIC (2013) there have been identified above

15 years male 32.5% are current smokers and among current smokers 97.1% smoke cigarettes,

2.6% smoker beedi and 0.3% smoke cigars. However it is interesting to look above figures that,

if beedi consumption is very low compare to cigarettes consumption how beedi market becomes

approximately half of the cigarettes market space.

According to the facts and figures still there are beedi production and consumption remaining

among the low-socio economic communities and especially among adult population.

There is a doubt about the law implementation for those tobacco products. However it can see

that beedi as well as cigarette consumption declining in the country.

There is lack of studies have been carried out for beedi consumption in Sri Lanka.

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Chapter Three

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction to chapter three

This chapter presents the method how study has been carried out. It present the setting of the

study has taken. In this study specific method has been use to capture the beedi consumers and it

explains with a figure 1. It also explains the data collection tools which have used for this study.

The study sample also has given in this chapter. Data analysis of the study also explains in the

study. Ethical consents were considered highly and it has explains in this chapter. However there

were some limitation in this study and it also discusses in this chapter.

3.2 Setting

There was no data about beedi consumers to capture for the study. Thus the method of collecting

data from beedi consumption was held in different stages. The first stage was to identify the

beedi producers in Sri Lanka. According to the Tobacco tax act no.08 of 1999 all the beedi

manufactures and importers have to register under the Commissioner General of Excise. The list

of registered beedi manufactures was observed. The number of manufactures by district was

listed and first five districts were selected for the study to interview the manufactures (see the

table 1). Conveniently selected beedi selling shops were questioned on where they buy beedi.

According to the information most popular manufactures were selected to interview. Base on the

manufactures interview first five places selected to conduct interview on beedi selling (shops)

where most beedi sales are reported. Interview on beedi consumption was carried out from the

beedi users who are around the shops.

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Figure 1: Steps of the data collection

5 Districts

1. Kegalle

2. Gampaha

3. Rathnapura

4. Kurunegala

5. Jaffna

Manufactures registry

Beedi selling shops

Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops

Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops

Manufactures

Manufactures Manufactures

1st Step

Department of Excise

2nd Step

Inquiry on Shops

3rd Step

Interview on Manufactures

Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops Beedi selling shops

Beedi users Beedi users Beedi users Beedi users Beedi users

4th Step

Interview on sellers

5th Step

Interview on users

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3.3 Data collection tool

Shops who are selling beedi were interviews using unstructured interview (2nd step – figure 1)

and collected the information on beedi manufactures in respective districts. Structured

questionnaires were used to collect the data from beedi manufactures (3rd step – figure 1), beedi

seller (4th step – figure 1) and from beedi consumers (5th step – figure 1). Al the questionnaires

were pretested and well explained to the field officers.

3.4 Sample

The primary data source was the beedi consumers which is not significantly visible in any

community in Sri Lanka. However the overall sample size of the beedi consumers is 180 from

seven districts (see table 1). The shops were the catalyst from producer to consumer thus it

interviewing of beedi was very important part of this study. The sample size of the shops is 36

and it was distributed among the seven districts. In this study 11 beedi producers were

interviewed in 5 districts. The most beedi producer district which was Kegalle has done 3

interviews while the rest four district sample is two beedi producer. The sample distribution by

the districts and type is shows in the table 1.

3.5 Data analysis

As there are structured interviews SPSS 2O software is uses to statistical analyze the data. There

are three different types of structured interviews and all the analysis is presenting in this study

finding. Field officers field notes was analyzed thematically which has more qualitative

information for this study.

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3.6 Ethical consent

Socially it has given low value for whatever smoker in Sri Lankan society and there is a legal

constrain for smokers. Thus most of the time smokers are not visible in public places. There for

some smokers are not ready to reveal that they are smoking tobacco. In this study beedi seller

also was interviewed and they are reluctant to tell about their sales. The producer is also are not

ready to reveal their production. Some of them were doing small scale production and they were

threaten form some authorities. Therefore taking their information was a challengeable task for

the field officers. Anyway field officers were train to make repot with all the recourse persons.

All the interviewee was obtained ethical consent verbally. None of their personal information

was collected during this study.

3.7 Limitation

It was reported that there are small scale beedi producers in most of the district which is

negligible when it come to the proportion of smoking tobacco market. However this study is only

limited to selected district with a rational which has most production are reported and expanded

to further two districts which has more beedi sales.

3.8 Summary

Five stages were followed in order to identify the beedi producers in the country. Department of

Excise was contacted to observe the list of registered beedi manufacturers. Seven districts were

identified to carry out the study as those districts consisted with highest beedi manufacturers and

consumers. Five shops were inquired from each district to gather information regarding their

manufacturers. Three manufacturers were interviewed from each district. According to

manufacturers information top five beedi selling shops were indentified from each district to

collect data. Finally, 5 beedi users from each shop were identified in order to gather the

information from beedi users from each district.

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Structured interviews were conducted to collect information from beedi manufacturers, beedi

sellers and beedi consumers. Unstructured interviews were used to gather information from

shops who were selling beedi. 180 of beedi consumers, 36 beedi selling shops and 11 beedi

producers were interviewed in the study. SPSS 20 software was used to analyze the statistical

data in the study. Field notes from field officers were analyzed thematically since it was

consisted more qualitative information.

Mostly smokers are not visible to the society in Sri Lanka. Hence, they are not stepping forward

to reveal their smoke consumption. Not only the beedi consumers but also beedi sellers and

producers also were not forwarded to supply the information since they had small scale

businesses and had threats from some authorities. According to the reported information in the

study, it was obvious that compared to tobacco market in the country, the production of beedi

was very slight.

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Chapter Four

STUDY FINDINGS; BEEDI SMOKING

4.1 Introduction to beedi smoking

This chapter discusses about the beedi consumption. Mainly characteristic of the beedi

consumers, attitudes and reasons will be explained. This chapter also gives an idea about

initiation and pattern of the beedi consumption. Most of the time beedi consumers have a relation

with smoking cigarettes. Together with discusses about smoking beedi consumption this chapter

also discusses about their smoking cigarette.

4.2 Consumption

Beedi consumers are not significantly visible in any part of the country but most of the beedi

consumers were reported from rural areas. Monaragala and Anuradhapura district was reported

as most beedi selling districts. Therefore this study has been carried out in the district of

Anuradhapura and Monaragala.

4.2.1 Characteristic information

However beedi consumption was only significant among the elderly people. Especially almost

all the beedi consumers were over 45 years and most of them were above 50 years. There was

very few who smoking beedi are in middle age. In this study the minimum age of beedi

consumer was reported from Kegalle district where most beedi producers were reported.

However average age of the beedi consumer was 50 years while most of the beedi consumer’s

age was 52 years.

It was interested to see that the entire beedi consumer’s charastaristic are very similar. Their

level of education was very low only very few of them have passed the grade ten. Some of them

had not gone through their primary education. Almost all of them were daily wages base

employees while some of them are unemployed. Labours in various fields, maisents (Bass),

17

helpers and very small scale business people such as lottery sellers are the most reported

employment of beedi users. There were very few beedi consumers who are retired. It was

significant that beedi consumers are were idling rural areas.

4.2.3 Pattern of beedi consumption

Most of the beedi consumers were consuming beedi on daily base. Among the daily beedi

consumer’s minimum sticks per day was 1 stick while maximum was 40 sticks per day. It is

interesting to see that five users who consume 40 sticks per day reported from Jaffna district

while one user was reported from both Rathnapura and Monaragala districts. The average sticks

per day were 14 years while most of them have used 20 sticks per day.

number of stiks group

Frequenc

y

Percent Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

<=10 73 46.8 46.8 46.8

11-20 68 43.6 43.6 90.4

21-30 8 5.1 5.1 95.5

31-40 7 4.5 4.5 100.0

Total 156 100.0 100.0

In this study it was questioned that their initiations for the beedi smoke. The minimum age was

reported one user have been started smoking beedi when he was in 11 years and it was reported

from Gampaha District. Most of beedi users have started smoking beedi when they were 20 years

old and average age for the initiation for beedi was 21 year.

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4.3 Reasons for beedi consumption

The reasons beedi consumption were multiple and it has given in the following chart (Graph 1).

According to the data most of the beedi consumers have mentioned that they use beedi to

overcome their tiredness when they are doing their jobs. Most of the beedi users were daily

wages workers and who are doing physically hard work thus they believe that beedi make them

less tired. Thus looking at the rest of reasons they have given are the myths they believe and

most relating with their socio economical status and culture.

Graph 1: Reasons for smoking beedi

4.4 Attitudes towards smoking beedi

All the beedi users though that beedi smoking give them a low social image in their community.

In the study it has been observed that beedi consumers are reluctant to say that they are smoking

beedi but when they are questioned about smoking cigarettes they were answering passionately.

The interested point found this study was most of them having not tried to quit smoking beedi in

their lifetime. According to the data 79% of the beedi smokers not thought to stop their behavior.

However some of them belive that cigarettes make less health consequences than beedi as beedi

are smellier than cigarettes.

31.40%18.10%

17.30%5.80%

4.40%4.40%

2.70%2.70%

2.20%2.20%2.20%2.20%

1.30%1.30%

0.90%0.90%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00%

overcome tiredness/due to jobas a habit

no special reasonsafter a meal or a tea

avoid lonelinesscigarettes are expensive to buy

get tethers with friendspass the time

have a boost to workfrom childhood

for funavoid sadness

stay upwhile drinking alcohol

overcome coldnessgoing for toilet

%

Re

aso

ns

Reasons for smoking beedi

19

It was asked that what the consequences of smoking beedi. According to the findings 36% of

them believe that there are consequences of smoking beedi. Financial problem was the major

problem they saw (45%). The second major problem they mentioned was health issues (39%)

such as it makes cough, make body waste. The third issue what smoking beedi was that their

family members don’t like that behavior (9%) including wife always scolding them, their

children done like. However some of them (5%) mentioned that make smelly themselves when

they smoking beedi.

4.5 Expenditure on beedi smoking

The price for beedi is not stable as there are various brands of beedi and different types of beedi.

The cheapest beedi sales on the price Rs.2/- which called Thora beedi and it consider the

smallest type of beedi in the market. The range of beedi prices distributed as Rs.2/-,2.50/-,3/- and

3.50/-. As there were few users who are smoking beedi on few times a month didn’t spend daily

thus the expenditure on beedi consumption was analyzed on monthly base. According to the

findings average monthly expenditure on beeid was Rs. 1170/- while most of them are spending

Rs. 750/- per month. However minimum monthly expenditure was Rs. 100/- and maximum was

Rs. 6000/-.

4.6 Summary of beedi smoking

Beedi smokers are not a visible group as cigarette smokers, however they can be found mainly

from rural area in the country. Proving that, Monaragala and Anuradhapura were identified as the

districts which have highest beedi sales. Most beedi smokers are from elder population which

over 50 years of age. It was found out that the most beedi smokers were in a same educational

level and they were not well educated. Beedi users were engaged in low income level

occupations.

One of the important social facts found out in the study was that, people have used to measure

the social status of smokers by observing the type of their smoke. Beedi smokers felt backward

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attitude to reveal their consumption, though they were felt smoking cigarette was uplifting their

social status. All most all the beedi users were not thinking about eliminating their consumption.

Only less than half of respondents believed that there are consequences of smoking beedi. Major

two reasons were financial problems and health issues. Most of them also revealed negative

feedback from family as a consequence of beedi smoking.

Chapter Five

STUDY FINDINGS; BEEDI PRODUCTION AND SALES

5.1 Production

The study aimed to gain an overall understanding regarding the beedi industry in Sri Lanka.

Therefore, the study pays its attention not only on beedi consumers but also on beedi production

and supply. Eleven beedi producers were interviewed from five districts (Rathnapura, Kegalle,

Gampaha, Jaffna and Kurunegala); these districts were recorded as the main districts which have

highest beedi consumption.

Four beedi producers were interviewed from Kegalle district since the highest beedi consumption

in the country recorded from there. Most producers had started their production in 1980’s.

Altogether six producers were interviewed from the districts, Gampaha, Jaffna and Kurunegala.

One producer was interviewed from Rathnapura district. 82% of producers had started their

beedi production between 1965 and 1995. Rest of the producers has started the production in

recent past.

Graph 2: Sample distribution of beedi producers

37%

18%18%

9%

18%

Beedi Producers

Kegalle

Gampaha

Jaffna

Rathnapura

Kurunegala

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Beedi production per month was questioned from the producers. It was found out that the

number of beedi production per month is varies with the demand. Each producer decides their

production with the demand they get. The producer from Gampaha district were producing 15,

00000 beedi sticks per month which was the highest among all the producers in the sample and

he had 600 workers working for him directly and indirectly. They have number of workers work

under them in their business according to the size of the production. Average number of sticks

produced in a month by eleven producers in the sample was found out as 2,97000. It was found

out that one worker produce 3820 of average beedi sticks in a month. Number of workers was

varying from the number of sticks produced. All the producers had direct workers who work at

producers’ place but most of the workers work at their own houses. During the study it was

found out that women in the areas such as Kegalle engage in beedi production at houses as a self-

employment. They earn Rs. 200 for 1000 beedi sticks. People take orders from the large-scale

beedi producers and they work at home. It was found out that there are societies in villages

which established by the village level beedi producers to collect and transport beedi and raw

materials. Those societies have the control in buying and supplying beedi within that specific

area. There are small-scale beedi producers who buy raw materials from Colombo and produce

beedi in their houses. Some of them have specific label names for their productions. As

mentioned in the literature (Somarathne (2010)); it is obvious that there are number of families

depend on beedi production as their income generation activity.

Though there is a considerable amount of beedi production in these districts, situation in the

market is not supportive for the producers. According to their opinions the beedi production has

gone down during the past years. 82% of producers mentioned that their production has

decreased over the years. The rest of the producers mentioned that their production hadn’t

change over the years. There was no producer who mentioned that their production had increased

over the years.

Beedi producers buy raw materials for their production mostly from Colombo. Apart from

Colombo, producers buy raw materials from Warakapola, Thanamalwila, Barandana and

Hambantota. In Jaffna, it was found out that some of the producers receive raw materials from

22

India. There are different types of beedi produced by using those raw materials. Beedi producers

supply different types of beedi to the market.

Some produce only one type of beedi but there were producers who produced more than one type.

The beedi type call ‘sudu beedi’, was widespread among the producers. There were seven

producers who produced ‘sudu beedi’. ‘Sudu beedi’ is a beedi type which has a proper cover in

white. It is one of the beedi which sells in high price. Apart from ‘sudu beedi’ there were

‘Indika’, label beedi’, ‘non-label beedi’, ‘long beedi’ and ‘normal beedi’. ‘Label beedi’ contains

a label around the stick and it has higher price than ‘non-label beedi’.

The study paid the attention on the problems of beedi producers in production and supply. All

the producers in the sample faced problems in production and/or supply. Production was affected

by whether changes in the areas. 45% of the producers mentioned that the government rules and

regulation and the acts of Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) have become as barriers for their

production. Producers faced problems in production due to frequent changes in government

guideline and regulations. They perceived the registration process of their production as a barrier.

27% of producers faced difficulties in drying beedi in rainy seasons. Moreover they face

transportation problems in those days since they have to bring produced beedi from remote areas

in the districts. Producers had the problem in higher cost of production. They had to pay a

considerable amount from their income as salaries to workers and they had less profit. Some of

the producers faced difficulty in finding raw materials for the production.

There were problems in supplying face by the beedi producers. The supply was mostly

influenced by decrease of consumers. According to 36% of producers, the number of beedi

consumers is low than early times. Producers face challenge in continuing their supplies due to

the decrease of consumers. Moreover, this situation has effected on their production too. 18% of

producers expressed that their supply is influenced by the current rules and regulations. Beedi

producers mentioned that they face threat in their industry from the cigarette industry. According

to them, at the present time people give more priority to cigarettes than beedi. The CTC has

captured people by their marketing strategies and beedi producers feel that those strategies try to

eliminate the beedi industry by taking attention from people. It can be true because during the

study number of marketing strategies by CTC such as posters could see in the shops.

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Productions in all five districts in the sample provided their supply mostly to Monaragala and

Anuradhapura. Those districts were in the first two districts in demand. The supply was also

distributed to areas in Gampaha, Rathnapura, Kegalle and Nuwaraeliya districts.

According to the government rules and regulations the beedi producers should register their

business under the Department of Excise. 82% of producers in the sample had registered their

business and the rest haven’t. Some producers were in the process of getting registered and some

had small-scale production at their houses. Respondents have got registered in three main

government bodies; town hall, pradeshiya sabha and the department of excise. 67% of registered

producers had got registered their business under the Department of Excise and the rest have got

registered under the town hall or under the pradeshiya sabha in the relevant areas.

Annual income of the producers was examined in the study. Since there is no control price for

beedi and since there are number of types; prices of beedi show a discrepancy from type to type

and district to district. In addition, there are different methods of selling beedi. Consumers can

buy any number of beedi as they desire, beedi packets, beedi in the rapping and there are

methods where consumers can buy with the money they have. For an example beedi consumers

can buy three beedi for five rupees. Likewise, there are different types of methods of selling

beedi and those differ according to the type and the district. Producers earned profit between to

30 cents and 60 cents from one beedi stick. It is between Rs. 100 – 150 from one beedi bundle.

Average monthly income of the beedi producers was nearly Rs. 1,11000.

5.2 Beedi Sales

Shops who are selling beedi have been held for several years and they also have selling beedi for

longer period of time. The types of shops who were selling beedi were different. Most shops

were permanent shops while some were petty shops. Some were tea shops and some were retails

shops. According to the field officers beedi selling shops are not significant like shops which are

selling cigarettes. However most of the shops who were selling beedi also were selling cigarettes

(94%). According to the observation there were able to found the cigarettes buds in shop

premises but beedi buds were very less or not visible.

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5.3 Types of beedi and prices

There are various brands of beedi in the market and in this study it was able to found that 30

different brands from entire seven district. However these brands were different from district to

district and place to place. It was identified that those different types of beedi sample from the

market and each of their prices were varying. The cheapest beedi was selling in Rs. 1/- in the

market which has no label and smallest type. The different branded smaller beedi are selling for

for Rs.2/-. There was able to found that one brand which is called Indian beedi one stick was Rs.

2.50/-. “Sudu beedi” (White beedi) was identified as the premium type and it was sold for Rs.

3.50/- in the market. Some of beedi brands and types were registered with a number and some of

them were not registered number in the rapping.

According to the beedi sellers most beedi buyers are from low socio economical stratum and

they buy beedi as they have no money to buy cigarettes. It can be proven by most of the beedi

users are consuming cigarettes. However some were pointed out that even the regular beedi

consumer are buying cheapest cigarettes when they have more money. For example they buy Rs.

10/- cigarettes which are branded Captain rather than buying beedi when they have enough

money.

On daily basis average number of beedi sales was 172 sticks while most shops sale 100 sticks per

day. The maximum number of beedi sales per day was 580 sticks and minimum sales were 10

sticks per day. Some of shops mentioned that here is a special time such as festival seasons and

road construction period sales is higher than normal days. They were selling sticks as wells

packets. In a bundle of beedi contain 400 sticks and selling one bundle get Rs. 150/- profit. The

profit of selling one stick is varying from Rs. 0.30/- to 0.50.

According to the shops 60% of buyers are above 45 years and 24% are 31-45 year range. Only

13.3% of the buyers were in the range of 16-30 years while 2.2% are <15 years.

It was questioned that what the benefits from selling cigarettes from shops are. According to the

answers 75% of them mention that they get financial profit from selling beedi. 13.9% mention

that the beedi buyers are tend to buy tea as well short eats from their shops as well 11.1% said

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they are tend to buy other goods from the shops. Those are the common answers from the shop

owners and it was questioned that how many proportion of them are from the customers come to

shops for tea and for short eats or to buy other good. Then they were calculated and realized that

only fewer buy beedi while buying rest of the goods. Some shops owners said that they selling

beedi and cigarettes because of their customers asking for them otherwise they are not selling

them.

In this study all the shops were asked that weather is there any issues they face while selling

beedi are. Only fewer said there is some issues such as excise department checking, beedi is so

smelly, most buyers try to get for credits, some beedi users are lighting in the shops and some

also demanding for one type of beedi.

However according to the information more than half of shops mentioned that sales of beedi is

decreasing within the last few years. Only one shop which was in Monaragala district has

mention that there is a growth during the past few years. Rest of them has mention that there is

no change of beedi sales.

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5.4 Summary

Production is one of main factor in beedi industry. The highest beedi production was recorded

from Kegalle district while Rathnapura, Gampaha, Jaffna and Kurunegala also produce

considerable amount. All most all the productions had started between 1965 and 1995. It was

obvious that the beedi producers are located in the rural areas of each and every district.

Average monthly production of beedi is 2,97000. Producers had direct and indirect workers.

Number of indirect workers was higher than the direct workers. Indirect workers engaged in

beedi making at their houses. They take orders and raw materials from producers. There are high

amount of women engaged in making beedi at houses as a self-employment and they earn

average amount of Rs. 200 by making 1000 beedi. Producers bought raw materials chiefly from

Colombo and there are other places where they could find raw materials. Producers in Jaffna

expressed of buying raw materials from India. There were six main types of beedi among the

producers and type of beedi call ‘sudu beedi’ is the main type of beedi which most producers

shares in the production. There are separate societies of beedi makers in villages. These societies

take care of buying and supplying of beedi including controlling prices. Producers earned a profit

between 30 cents and 60 cents from one beedi stick. The average amount of monthly income was

Rs. 1, 11000.

Though, the beedi industry was well developed one in the past, it doesn’t demonstrate as a

successful industry now. It was highlighted by majority of the respondents that the production

has gone down over the years. Producers face problems in production and supply. Government

regulations and guidelines acted as barriers in the production. In addition, high cost which had to

spend for raw materials and salaries of workers were another problems faced by beedi producers.

Producers faced influenced in their supply due to the decrease of consumers for beedi. Producers

specially mentioned regarding the feeling of threat from CTC to their industry. The marketing

strategies of CTC had negative impact in the demand of beedi.

Monaragala and Anuradhapura was identified as the places where the beedi sales are in high rate.

However, beedi sales were at considerable stage in districts such as Gampaha and Nuwaraeliya.

82% of the producers had got registered their business under a government body. These

government bodies were identified as department of excise, town halls and pradhesiya sabha.

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Shops which were selling beedi have been engage in that for long time period. Among these

shops most were permanent shops and there were few petty shops. It was found out that the beedi

selling shops are not significant to the society as much as cigarette selling shops. Even though

those were not significant, 94% of these shops were engaging in cigarette selling too. In the

observation, it was obvious that there were fewer beedi buds in shops premises than cigarette

buds.

There were 30 different brands found out in the districts. Beedi did not carry one specific brand

or size. Different types of beedi were found out from each district and the prices vary according

to the sizes and brands. According to the findings ‘Sudu beedi’ is the most expensive beedi type

in these those districts. The important fact found out was that all most all respondents smoked

beedi since they do not have money to consume cigarettes. If they had enough money they went

for cheapest cigarette brand instead of buying beedi. As that Captain cigarette was well-known

among beedi smokers.

Nearly 200 beedi sticks sold daily as an average amount. The sales were little high in festival

times. 60% of beedi buyers were above 45 years which proves that majority of beedi smokers are

from elder population. Though the shop owners believed that they had more sales in the shop

from beedi consumers; later they have realized that they had more customers other than beedi

consumers. More than half of the shop owners expressed that the demand for beedi has decreased

within last few years.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

Beedi can be identified as the cheapest smoking tobacco products in Sri Lanka average

price is Rs. 2/- (Min2-Max3.5). The cheapest cigarettes type is Rs. 10/- (Min10-Max34).

Although beedi is the cheapest form of tobacco smoking 97% of the total tobacco

smokers are smoking cigarettes in Sri Lanka.

Majority of the beedi consumers are consuming cigarettes but most cigarettes users are

not consuming beedi. The image for a beedi consumer is low for the beedi consumer and

they are reluctant to reveal about their behavior. Image for a smoker is low for all kind of

tobacco smoke in the prevailing society. However among the smoker beedi consider as

the lowest.

Beedi manufacturing and sales can be seen as a small scale mainly home-based business

with no promotion or advertising cost at all. In Sri Lanka, cigarettes production and sale

is a monopoly of Ceylon Tobacco Company which is owned by British American

Tobacco-BAT. BAT owns more than 92% of the shares of CTC. Tobacco Company is

engaged in subtle promotions due to complete ban in direct and indirect promotions,

sponsorships and advertising as per the NATA (National Authority on Tobacco and

Alcohol) Act 27 of 2006.

Beedi consumption is visible among low-income groups in the country and mostly they

are elders above 40 years (74%). Most beedi consumers are having minimal educational

background or no education at all. They are mainly engaged in daily wage labor jobs.

Cigarettes smokers are spread across different age groups (15-24 youth- 27.4%, 25-39

middle age- 34.2% and above 40 43.3%), economic and education conditions.

Beedi smokers are declining and the producers and sellers claim that the production and

sales decreasing. Most common reasons for beedi usage were “support for late night

jobs”, “to get rid of the tiredness”, “to pass time”, etc which were linked to their

occupations. This implies that the beedi users are trapped in the common myths attached

to tobacco smoking. However majority of the cigarette smokers claim that they smoke

without any obvious reason.

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Recommendations

1. Awareness programme should address the myths among beedi smokers regarding beedi

smoke such as good for tiredness.

2. Awareness or prevention on beedi consume should address only among the people who

consume beedi, such characteristics are; low socio economic, rural communities’ as well

elderly people.

3. The prevailing image for beedi consumer which is low has to maintain as it is help to

prevent others from the consuming beedi especially among younger generation.

4. There is no need to promote beedi from any media as there has no promotional strategies

such as Tobacco company does (subtle promotions through media)

5. Alternative income sources has to be introduce for the beedi producers as they are facing

declinie of beedi sales.

30

References:

ADIC (2013), Spot Survey on Tobacco Consumption- July 2013, Alcohol and Drug Information

Centre. Colombo.

CTC (2011), Annual Report 2011. Ceylon Tobacco Company. p 23.

CSE (2013), Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC.N0000), Capital market development

initiative by the Colombo Stock Exchange in association with Amba Research, Available from: http://www.cse.lk/cmt/upload_report_file/460_1384255423645.pdf [Accessed: 19/02/2014].

JKSB (2008), Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC), John Keells Stock Brokers (Pvt). Available

from: Ltd.http://www.cse.lk/cmt/upload_report_file/460_1384255423645.pdf [Accessed:

19/02/2014].

Kariyakrawana, K. K. (2013), Tax on smoking substitutes soon Beedi, cigars and pipe tobacco

under scrutiny, Sunday Observer. Available from: http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2013/03/31/fea10.asp [Accessed: 19/02/2014].

WHO (2006), Tobacco Control in Sri Lanka, Regional Health Forum WHO South-East Asia Region (3)

Available from:

http://209.61.208.233/en/Section1243/Section1310/Section1343/Section1344/Section1351/Section168

5_7194.htm [Accessed: 19/02/2014].

Somarathne, R. (2010), Cheap pleasure with high risks for Beedi smokers, Daily News,

Available from: http://archives.dailynews.lk/2010/06/29/news03.asp [Accessed: 20/02/2014].

Tobacco Tax Act No. 8 of 1999, Sri Lanka,

Engelgau, M. et al. (2010) Prevention and control of selected chronic NCDs in Sri Lanka. Policy

Options and Action, October 2010 World Bank (2014), Available from: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview [Accessed: 05/06/2014]. WHO (2013), Country profile – Sri Lanka, Available from : http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/lka.pdf?ua=1 [Accessed: 05/06/2014].